Here’s something you don’t see everyday/ever: the Vancouver Canucks generated a press release announcing their interest in trading Chris Higgins.

This is the full release, via GM Jim Benning:

“As part of our transition to a younger team, I can confirm we’re exploring trade options for Chris Higgins so we can create more roster space for our younger players to develop. Chris is a quality person who has been an important member of our team for nearly five seasons. Our focus has been on finding a positive new situation for him and we will continue to do so.”

That’s … pretty unusual.

Granted, this has been a week-or-so of trade rumors becoming unusually public (and sometimes resulting in an actual trade), so maybe this is just the next step?

Either that or the Canucks are desperate, as it might be tough to find takers on Higgins’ $2.5 million cap hit, which won’t expire until after the 2016-17 season.

Apparently he’ll be inactive while Vancouver looks for a trade, so this may very well be a way of announcing as much (as anything else):

Higgins will not play while VAN searches for match. Told he has not asked for a trade, but team is trying to find a landing spot for him.